Friday, June 3, 2011 11:46 am

But deficits are shiny!

Major U.S. newspapers have increasingly shifted their attention away from coverage of unemployment in recent months while greatly intensifying their focus on the deficit, a National Journal analysis shows.

The analysis — based on a measure of how often the words “unemployment” and “deficit” appear in major publications — portrays a dramatically shifting landscape of coverage over the past two years, as the debate over how to fix the federal deficit has risen to prominence and the question of how to handle still-high unemployment has faded from the media’s consciousness.

Yes, large deficits are a serious problem. But they’re a serious problem in the longer-term. Yes, they could cause inflation. But the interest rate on 10-year Treasuries has fallen a full half a point recently, indicating that the markets see no evidence of inflation coming anytime soon.

Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans are out of work or badly underemployed. They’re experiencing real human misery right now, today. And the Serious Journalists, economically illiterate and morally bankrupt, couldn’t give less of a damn.

One last thing: This isn’t a failure of reporters. Failures this big require the complicity, if not the direction, of editors and publishers.

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[…] Your liberal media: Major U.S. newspapers have increasingly shifted their attention away from coverage of unemployment in recent months while greatly intensifying their focus on the deficit, a National Journal analysis shows. The analysis — based on a measure of how often the words “unemployment” and “deficit” appear in major publications — portrays a dramatically shifting landscape of coverage over the past two years, as the debate over how to … Read More […]